Protestantism in Hungary and Transylvania - James Aitken Wylie

eginning of the business on occasion of the
approaching great fair at Sintau-on-the-Waag.[5]
The saturnalia of slaughter were to open thus:
disguised emissaries were to proceed to the fair,
mingle with the crowd, pick quarrels with the
peasants, and manage to create a tumult.
Wallenstein and his troops, drawn up in. readiness,
were then to rush upon the multitude, sword in
hand, and cut down all above twelve years of age.
It was calculated that the melee would extend from
village to town, till the bulk of the able-bodied
population, including all likely to lead in a
rebellion, were exterminated. A terrible program
truly! but second thoughts convinced its authors
that the hour had not yet arrived for attempting its
execution. Bethlen still lived, and the brave leader
was not likely to sit still while his countrymen were
being butchered like sheep.
Ferdinand, occupied in a mortal struggle with
the north of Europe and France, had discernment
enough, blinded though he was by the Jesuits, to
see that it would be madness at this moment to add
to the number of his enemies by throwing down the
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